Accreditation

The Board of Education revised its accreditation standards to provide a more comprehensive view of school quality while encouraging continuous improvement for all schools and placing increased emphasis on closing achievement gaps.  School accreditation ratings for the 2018-2019 school year were the first to reflect this new approach to accountability. 

School Quality Indicators

The revised accreditation standards measure performance on multiple school-quality indicators, not just on overall student achievement on state tests.

Elementary & Middle Schools are evaluated on the following indicators:

- Overall proficiency and growth in English reading/writing achievement (including progress of English Learners (EL) toward English-language proficiency
- Overall proficiency and growth in mathematics
- Overall proficiency in science
- English achievement gaps among student groups
- Mathematics achievement gaps among student groups
- Absenteeism

High Schools are evaluated on the following indicators:

- Overall proficiency and growth in English reading/writing achievement (including progress of English Learners (EL) toward English-language proficiency
- Overall proficiency and growth in mathematics
- Overall proficiency in science
- English achievement gaps among student groups
- Mathematics achievement gaps among student groups
- Absenteeism
- Graduation and completion (GCI)
- Dropout rate
- College, career, and civic readiness (effective 2021-2022)

Performance Levels

Performance on each school-quality indicator is rated at one of three levels:

- Level One:  Meets or exceeds standard or sufficient improvement
- Level Two:  Near standard or making sufficient improvement
- Level Three:  Below standard

All schools must develop a multi-year plan to support continuous improvement on all indicators.  Specific local and state actions and interventions are required to improve performance on indicators rated at Level Two and Level Three.

Accreditation Ratings

Under the new system schools earn one of the following three accreditation ratings:

- Accredited--Schools with all school-quality indicators at either Level One or Level Two
- Accredited with Conditions--Schools with one or more school-quality indicators at Level Three
- Accreditation Denied--Schools that fail to adopt or fully implement required corrective actions to address Level Three school-quality indicators.  A school rated as Accreditation Denied may regain state accreditation by demonstrating to the Board of Education that it is fully implementing all required corrective action plans.